Talsky Center Lecture Series and Symposia

The Lori E. Talsky Center for Human Rights of Women and Children is dedicated to bringing to the MSU Law campus a range of speakers who are experts in international human rights or humanitarian law, or who are particularly knowledgeable about one of the ongoing crises engendered by violations of such law.

October 2015 (Date TBA)“An American Tragedy, A Bloody Injustice: Police Killings of Unarmed Black Men and Boys”
Rita Izsak, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues
Time and Place TBA

Monday, November 16, 2015“Nontraditional Jobs for J.D.s in Human Rights: Three Great Examples”
Howard A. Davidson, former Director of ABA’s Center on Children and the Law
Amanda Green-Hawkins, Director of Civil & Human Rights, United Steelworkers of America
Joseph Harte, Executive Director, Center for Korean Legal Studies, and Lecturer in Law, Columbia Law School
Noon to 1:30 p.m. (lunch at 11:45)
MSU Law, Castle Board Room

Monday, February 1, 2016“International Commercial Surrogacy, Child Laundering and Related Abuses: It Takes a ‘Village’ to Commodify a Child”
Professor David M. Smolin, Cumberland School of Law, Director of Center for Children, Law and Ethics
11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. (lunch at 11:30)
MSU Law, Room 471

Friday, March 25, 2016Symposium:“U.S. Torture of Detainees as a Human Rights Violation”

Keynote Speaker: Ben Emmerson, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism

Wednesday, November 12, 2014“Who Knew? Yes, There Is an International Human Right to Peace”The Honorable Douglas Roche, former member of Canadian Parliament, Canadian Ambassador for Disarmament, and Chairman of the U.N. Disarmament Committee at the 43rd General Assembly
Noon to 1:30 p.m. (lunch at 11:45 a.m.)
MSU Law, Room 471

Wednesday, February 4, 2015“Reparations and an Apology for Slavery: The Caribbean Quest”Martyn Day, senior partner at Leigh Day (London, England), and the attorney representing Caricom (Caribbean Nations) in this matter
Noon to 1:30 p.m. (lunch at 11:45 a.m.)
MSU Law, Castle Board Room

2013–14

October 16, 2013
“Humanitarian Intervention in Rwanda: When an Uncaring World Forsakes Black Lives and Blue Helmets”Lieutenant-General (Ret’d) The Honorable Romeo Dallaire, Commander of U.N. Peacekeeping Forces in Rwanda (1993–94)

November 7–8, 2013Symposium: Whether the United States Should Become a Party to the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against WomenCo-sponsor: Michigan State Law Review

February 5, 2014
“Food: You Have a Human Right to It—No Matter What Congress Says”
Dr. Ioana Cismas, coordinator at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, consultant at the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, and former advisor to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food

March 12, 2014
“Beyond Obamacare: Working Towards the Human Right to Healthcare in the United States”
Catherine Albisa, executive director of the National Economic & Social Rights Initiative, constitutional and human rights lawyer

April 2, 2014
“Prolonged Solitary Confinement of Prisoners as a Violation of International Human Rights Law”
David Fathi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project

November 7, 2012Debate: Whether Transnational Corporations Should Be or Are Already Subject to International Human Rights Law
Co-sponsor: The Federalist Society
Professor Jernej Letnar Cernic, Faculty of Law, European University Institute, Slovenia
James P. Kelly, III, The Federalist Society’s expert jurist on international affairs

March 13, 2013“Some Seventy Years After Nuremberg: Laws of War and Human Rights Violations During the Bush–Cheney Era”Jordan J. Paust, the Mike and Teresa Baker Professor of International Law at University of Houston Law Center

April 4–5, 2013Symposium: Whether the U.S. Should Become a Party to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the ChildSymposium website »

2011–12

March 15, 2012“Ending Impunity for Crimes Against Humanity, War Crimes, And Genocide Perpetrated On Civilians”Michele Oliel, Fellow, Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former YugoslaviaPress release »

March 29, 2012“From Apartheid to War Crimes: Protecting Human Rights”Bakone J. Moloto, Justice, International Criminal Tribunal for the former YugoslaviaPress release »